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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

in thinking DP's family's behaviour towards me is pretty outrageous?

405 replies

SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 17:40

So, DP's DB and his wife have just had a baby. DP rings DB on Thursday to ask if we can round to see the baby for the first time on Friday. DB says no, they'll come to ours Sunday. DP says Sunday is absolutely no good because Sylvie is working all day (twelve and a half hour shift). DB says they will try to come on Saturday. Saturday comes and goes, no sign of them. Late Saturday evening DP gets a text saying they're coming on Sunday. Neither of us is happy about this, but DP is all like I can't get into a confrontation with them when they've just had a baby and refuses to talk to his DB about it. So I go off to work on Sunday and they and DP's mum come round with the baby, and DP gives them the presents I carefully selected, bought and wrapped months ago, and I'm left out of the whole thing!

But it's not only this. I've never been able to build much of a relationship with them. DP and DB are not really close, they're quite different people. DP: bookish, sensitive, university-educated, teacher, teetotal. DB: laddish, a drinker, left school at 16, works in a factory. We've never seen him and his wife loads and when we do it is an effort for both of us.

There have been a few things they've done that have pissed me off. For example, DB is our DS's godfather (DP's choice) but he has never taken much interest in him.

DP lent DB £500 when I was pregnant with DS, which we couldn't really afford, and DB has never paid us that money back, though they have been on several holidays since and are now in the process of buying their council house Hmm. (We, on the other hand, are finally going on our first holiday for three years this summer, as we haven't been able to afford it until now). DP refuses to ask for the money back and says we should just write it off. (It went towards paying debts).

They never say thank you for birthday and Christmas presents, for themselves or for their kids. Ever.

One time it was DP's birthday and we invited people round at four in the afternoon for a little party. DB didn't want to come at 4pm (he didn't have other plans, he just didn't want to come) so he turned up at 10 in the morning instead, with wife and two kids in tow! My friend from overseas was coming to stay that evening and I was rushing round trying to get the house clean for that and the official party happening in the afternoon, and somewhat stressed, so I stayed upstairs cleaning for most of the time they were here. After that DB complained to DP about me being "unfriendly", and came round less (his wife didn't actually come round again until this Sunday when they brought the baby over, which basically means she didn't come round for three years).

Another time we went round to drop a present off for their DD. We were in a rush (my mum had given us a lift up there and was waiting in the car outside) so it was just a very quick visit, but it led to another complaint about my supposed unfriendliness because apparently I didn't say hello or goodbye (I don't remember this - I'm sure I must've acknowledged them with a nod or a wave).

And one time, and this is a little thing but it pissed me off no end and now is my chance to get it off my chest (!), DB's DD threw up all over my settee and when he asked me for a cloth to clean it up with I told him to use the old cloth under the cupboard under the kitchen sink but instead he helped himself to a new one out of the packet, and it wasn't just any old cloth but a fancy M&S one, and of course it had to be thrown away afterwards so it was a complete waste, and what made it even more irritating was that the DD had obviously thrown up because she'd been allowed to stuff herself stupid with crisps before they came over, it wasn't like she was ill or anything...!!!!

I've never said anything to them about any of these things (though with the cleaning cloth thing I really wish I had!!). One, I'm quite shy, and two, I think it's DP's place to deal with his family. I was brought up to be polite to people I don't know very well and that is exactly what I've tried to do every time I've seen them. My only crime, as I see it, has been my shyness. But apparently they now feel justified in leaving me out of big family occasions.

OP posts:
SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 20:23

How am I aggressive for wanting to be included in my own family?

OP posts:
BlackOutTheSun · 03/07/2012 20:23

How long have you known dp's family?

FuckityFuckFuck · 03/07/2012 20:24

in the face of overwhelming Hmmness I seriously recommend you think about calling it a no win situation.

^^ What she said :o

SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 20:24

Five years.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 03/07/2012 20:24

"I was also going to talk DP's other brothers and MIL"

Are they even "worse"? Grin

Your surname isnt Bucket is it??

TheMightyMojoceratops · 03/07/2012 20:25

Nodding at people instead of saying "hello" or "goodbye" is not shyness, it's RUDE. If someone couldn't be bothered acknowledging me, in my house, with more than a nod, I'd be very slow to invite them back again.

SoleSource · 03/07/2012 20:25

You come across as a snob. ask them outright for your money back. I would.

EnjoyResponsibly · 03/07/2012 20:25

Are you Katie Holmes

carlywurly · 03/07/2012 20:25

Interested now. What have the rest of the family done?

WorraLiberty · 03/07/2012 20:26

Just popped in to see if the OP has admitted she is BU yet

Good job I didn't hold my breath Grin

SerendipitousHarlot · 03/07/2012 20:26

FIVE YEARS and all you can manage is a nod as a greeting??? That's rude, OP, and if you don't realise that, then there is no hope for you.

If an inlaw of mine behaved like that when they came to my house, I would think they were rude and unfriendly, and I wouldn't want to make any effort either.

BlackOutTheSun · 03/07/2012 20:26

So in 5 years of knowing them, bil being dc's godfather, wanted them to visit with new baby with you there yet you couldn't say a simple hello in their house to drop of gifts due to shyness?

One word for that, Bollocks

SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 20:26

Well, his other DB threatened to punch me in the face and used to come round regularly and scream abuse at me so yes, they are worse.

OP posts:
EnjoyResponsibly · 03/07/2012 20:27

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH

^ sound of drip feed turning into Niagra proportions^

SerendipitousHarlot · 03/07/2012 20:28

You do realise that we, as adults, have to make small talk with people we don't know very well, right? The shyness excuse only goes so far, you know. And judging by this thread, that's what it is, an excuse.

You don't seem very fucking shy on this thread!

FuckityFuckFuck · 03/07/2012 20:28

When I wrote the post title I was also going to talk DP's other brothers and MIL then I figured the post was getting a bit long and thought I just ask for people's opinions on this DB. Is this DB's behaviour alone outrageous? No. The behaviour of the family taken as a whole, with all the other stuff that's gone on? Yes.

And you have answered your own thread.

SerendipitousHarlot · 03/07/2012 20:28

Why was that Sylvie? The other brother, I mean.

SoleSource · 03/07/2012 20:29

I think you may have to accept the in laws do not want to know you. It is painful, I know :( Two sides to every story and all that, maybe Sylvie is the more innocent party. I am Angry about the £500 that is a disgrace.

Lesson learned, do not lend what you expect to get back.

I hope you're OK.

SoleSource · 03/07/2012 20:30

I believe Sylvie, I really do.

FuckityFuckFuck · 03/07/2012 20:30

Arf! @ EnjoyResponsibly

:o

SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 20:30

Of course I'm not shy on this thread! This is the internet! You are, in the nicest possible way, strangers!

I don't get this drip feeding thing. Was I supposed to talk about all aspects of my life in one post? Plus I already I'm not being unreasonable to think threating to hit people is wrong.

OP posts:
SylvieSmith · 03/07/2012 20:31

Sorry, threatening.

OP posts:
EnjoyResponsibly · 03/07/2012 20:32

It's not that I don't believe, it's that the DB that did that ^^ would have been the subject of my AIBU and probably the calling of police (YES) vs whether the other DB was BU not paying back £500 and not saying thank you.

squeakytoy · 03/07/2012 20:32

I do rather think that instead of crying over a M & S cloth, you could have mentioned that your other BIL threatened to punch you in the mush..

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be the most outrageous of the two....

SerendipitousHarlot · 03/07/2012 20:33

Right. It would help if you answered direct questions, rather than avoiding them and just keeping repeating the same things over and over. Why did the other brother threaten to punch you in the face, and scream abuse at you?

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